Covid-19: a week after the start of the Olympics, Japan extends the state of emergency

Published on : 07/30/2021 – 11:25

While the health crisis continues to worsen in Japan, affecting in particular several participants in the Olympic Games, the Japanese government decided, Friday, July 30, to extend the state of emergency in Tokyo and extend it to four other departments. .

“We have decided to extend the state of emergency in Tokyo and Okinawa, in the southwest, until August 31,” Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced at a ministerial meeting. A state of emergency will also be declared in Osaka, in the west, and in three departments bordering Tokyo, he added.

“The infection is spreading at a speed never reached before”, especially in the greater Tokyo region, said Yoshihide Suga.

Contamination record

“The highly infectious Delta variant is quickly gaining the upper hand and if the increase (in the number, Editor’s note) of infected people does not stop, it is possible that the number of people in serious condition will increase further and hospitals will be overwhelmed. “, he warned again.

The Japanese capital recorded a new record for new infections on Thursday (3,865), as the number of daily cases nationwide surpassed 10,000 for the first time. On Friday, 3,300 additional cases were identified in Tokyo.

Vaccination against Covid-19 in Japan has started slower than in other industrialized countries, and only 27.6% of the national population is fully vaccinated, according to the latest daily government figures.

Twenty-seven new cases at the Olympics

The organizers of the Tokyo Olympics, meanwhile, reported on Friday 27 new cases in people linked to the event, including three athletes, the highest daily figure to date.

Thursday, the director of communication of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Mark Adams, however defended the effectiveness of the countermeasures put in place against the Covid-19 for the Games, which take place behind closed doors and with many restrictions for all participants. The IOC disputes any possible link between the holding of the Olympic Games and the current upsurge of the pandemic in Japan, which began at the end of June.

With AFP